SWNOVELS The Forbidden Freshman: Chapter 48
I give Mikayla five full minutes before going to find her.
It’s agony. The guys stand there, silently supporting me as I try to reconcile that the horrible bitch who slapped Mikayla is also the woman who birthed her. It doesn’t seem possible that my lil’ mouse could come from something so hideous.
“How could she slap her own kid? I mean, what the actual fuck!” I shouted at the guys.
They all nodded their agreement, Asher looking pretty dark over the whole thing.
“That bitch,” he muttered while Casey murmured his agreement.
Liam stood silent, crossing his arms with a worried frown. I shared a quick glance with him and felt that chill run through me.
As far as I’m aware, he’s never told anyone but me about the house he grew up in. He knows what it’s like to get knocked around by a person you should be able to trust. Someone who’s supposed to love and protect you.
Shit, I’ve been so lucky. I may have lost my mother way too soon, but when she was alive, she loved me. And my dad… he’s given me everything I could ever need.
My heart hurts for Mikayla as I walk the fence line, following the path she took and soon finding her standing by a tree and punching the trunk.
“Hey, stop.” I rush over to her, quickly grabbing her wrist before she can plow her knuckles into the rough bark again. Lightly kissing her grazed skin, I murmur, “No more tree punching, okay? You’re hurting my girl.”
She sniffs, letting out a watery laugh as she obviously tries to rein in her tears. “I told you anger makes me stupid.”
I give her a pained frown, then pull her into my arms. As soon as her cheek hits my chest, it’s like a switch goes off. A sob punches out of her—a deep sound that feels like it’s being yanked from the center of her body. She starts to tremble, her arms looping around me and clinging tight while she quakes and cries against me.
I stand there, holding her in a protective cocoon, trying to be stoic. Trying not to let those tears rip me in half. My shirt is soon smeared with her snot, but I don’t move an inch, not until her tears start to ebb.
As her cries turn to soft whimpers, I loosen my grip enough to sit with my back against the tree. I pull her down between my legs and nestle her against me.
She wipes her face with the back of her hand, sniffing and hiccupping a few more times before managing to rasp, “Shit, I hate crying so much.”
“You needed to.” I press my lips to the back of her head. “It’s okay.”
Leaning around her, I check her cheek, relieved there’s no red mark. It must have been a stinging, hard slap, but the pain would have died down already, and now she’s just left with these internal wounds which cut so much deeper.
“What was the fight about?”
She sucks in a breath, letting it out in a rush before mumbling, “I should have tried harder to get scholarships. I should have looked at more options. But I played right into their hands.”
“Okay,” I whisper, trying to catch up with what she’s telling me.
“Jarrod and Mom offered to pay for my education.”
“That’s kind of standard, isn’t it?”
She scoffs. “There is nothing standard about those two. If I wanted the money, I had to play by their rules. He wrote a fucking contract and everything. And I signed it, like some idiot. But it was free education. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“What did the contract stipulate?”
“That I went to Nolan U, that I maintained a minimum of a 3.5 GPA, that I never did anything to get in trouble, and that I…” She huffs, tipping her head back against my shoulder. “And that I become a Sig Be sister.”
“What kind of crazy-ass clause is that?”
“Mom’s engaged to Aimee’s dad,” she sneers. “You know, Aimee? The Sig Be president.”
I let out a tired sigh. “Yeah, I know Aimee.”
“Well, my mother was a legacy, and it was one of the many things she and Jarrod bonded over. They mapped it out so perfectly. Their daughters would become besties, and this idyllic life they pictured would just unfold seamlessly before them. We’d become this happy blended family.” Mikayla’s voice sharpens, taking on a bitter edge. “But they forget to take into account the Mikayla factor. The daughter who won’t conform because she’s just like her father.” Her voice starts to tremble, and I can tell we’re hitting some pretty sensitive topics right now. “You know what? They probably did take it into account, and that’s why that fucking contract exists in the first place.”
I let her take a breath, waiting for the air to still around us before asking, “Where is your dad?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to talk about it. He left, and I never saw him again. End of story.”
“Okay.” I soothe her with a kiss to her cheek, wrapping my arms around her.
She grabs my wrist, her small fingers clinging. “Aimee never wanted me in that house. That’s why she gave me the impossible task of making you fall in love with me.”
“Well, that wasn’t so impossible.” I grin.
She turns to look at me. “But breaking your heart would have been.”
“Again, not impossible.” I tip my head with a sad smile. “For a minute there, I thought you had.”
She sniffs and curls into me, turning sideways and wrapping her arms around her knees. She’s so small and vulnerable right now. Is it weird that it feels like a privilege to see her this way? She’s letting me in. Miss I Don’t Want to Talk About It is going deep for a minute, and I’m the one she’s trusting with all of this.
“I failed, Ethan.”
“No, you chose me. And that’s fucking awesome.” I kiss the top of her head. “I’m sorry your mom’s so pissed about it. The way she behaved on that court, I swear, I—”
She touches my cheek, leaning back to look at my face. I swallow down the anger rising through me, softened by her gentle caress.
“I’d choose you every time.” Her thumb brushes my cheek, the look in her eyes trying to melt my heart all over again. The sadness tingeing her expression constricts my chest. “Even though it means she’s cutting me off.”
“What?”
Mikayla drops her gaze, nodding as she struggles to talk past a fresh wave of tears. “I told her I didn’t want to be part of this dumb blended family if I couldn’t be myself… and she… she said, ‘Fine. Don’t be.’” Her voice cracks, and I squeeze her closer to me. “I don’t think she’s going to change her mind, and Jarrod definitely won’t. I was rude to his precious daughter, and I’m now in breach of that contract. Once this semester’s up, I’m not gonna have any money to pay my tuition.”
“We can get you a loan.”
She winces. “I don’t want a loan. I…” She shakes her head, fresh tears dropping down her cheeks. “I don’t even have a place to live anymore. I can’t borrow enough money for everything. It’s too much. Nolan U is too expensive. I’ll just…” She shrugs. “I’ll just have to find somewhere else or maybe work for a few years. Save up, you know? I can delay my plans.” Her words break apart, and she bites her trembling lips together as new tears cascade down her cheeks.
“I don’t want you to leave me. I feel like I only just found you.”
She sniffs, giving me a hopeless shrug. “We may not have a choice.”
“We’ll find a way.” Determination courses through me as I wipe her tears with my thumbs, then pull her in for a firm kiss that leaves no room for argument.
“Come on.” Standing tall, I pull her to her feet and head for Hockey House, figuring I can at least solve one of her immediate problems… if I can get the guys to agree.